Monday, September 24, 2012

Blue Fall in Louisiana

“When they showed me my body, it was blue,” explained George
Rodrigue to a friend this week.“Nothing dark, no patches, they were all gone.”

I overheard him on the phone and my ears picked up, not
because I hadn’t seen the scan, but because I hadn’t thought of his body as
blue, and I rather liked this image of the Blue Dog Man.Coincidentally, at that moment I turned
the last pages of Christopher Moore’s Sacré
Bleu,* a modern-day fairytale devoted to the color of western royalty and
religion, tracing its source in paintings like Van Gogh’s Starry Night to a muse, a blue nude, who, with the help of The Colorman,
sheds the irresistible hue from her body, bewitching artists with the precious
color.

-click photo to enlarge-

(pictured, Three Dog
Night, 1993, 36x48, oil and acrylic on canvas by George Rodrigue; more on
the Red Dog here-)

Although today his undisputed favorite color, George
Rodrigue barely touched the color blue in his early paintings, dark Louisiana landscapes and near black-and-white scenes of Cajun folk-life.By the early 1980s blue appeared
occasionally in the eyes or ribbons of Jolie Blonde.And it was his 1984 painting of the loup-garou, a ghost dog set beneath a dark night sky, that eased the
color, first as a blue-grey and then growing with intensity, into nearly every
painting since.

The intense blue of the Virgin Mary’s gown in early artworks
such as the Limbourg Brother’s Belles Heures (1405, related story here-) originates with lapis lazuli, mined in the mountains of
Afghanistan.Difficult to obtain,
its rarity intoxicated both artists and patrons for centuries, oftentimes the painting’s
expense related directly to its blue requirements:

“The two Michelangelo (1475-1564) paintings…hang in the
National Gallery in London to this day, but it’s likely that they remain
unfinished because the painter was unable to obtain the ultramarine he needed
and moved on to other commissions, or the patron refused to pay the high price
of the color.” –Moore, Afterword*

Even today, blue, although no more expensive than other
colors, remains precious and linked to the intangible.

(There
is a painting I found among my mother’s things that I’d never seen before. It’s
only two hands, painted in blue. It hangs in my closet, and sometimes I place
my hands on hers and I think she’s there. From the post “Mignon’s
Flowers,” linked here-)

Curious, I counted the tubes of blue within George Rodrigue’s
paint drawers and discovered ten different manufactured shades with titles like
cerulean, cobalt and ultramarine.We spoke about the color and, although intrigued by its lofty history,
the appeal for him lies in the richness of the hue, as opposed to the richness (as
in rarity and price tag) of perception.

“There is a spiritual quality to blue, however,” he
continues.“The dark night sky
affects my mood and my paintings, replacing the earthy greens and browns of my
early works.As I grow older, my
mind expands.I suspend reality on
my canvas with greater confidence, exploring not just the trees and grass, but
also the mysterious and the mystical.”

(pictured, an unfinished canvas on Rodrigue’s easel this
week; click photo to enlarge-)

In my early twenties, while traveling alone, I fell to
unconsciousness during a hike in the Austrian mountains.I awoke in the snow on a steep incline,
wedged against a tree.On that
black-blue night, I thought about my tiny place on this mountain, on this
earth, and in this universe.As my
mind expanded into existentialism, I grew smaller and less important, losing
all fear and not really caring whether or not I survived the night.

A brush with death spurs unlikely consequences.This mountain experience, I have often
thought, gave me the courage to take every leap since, a lesson George Rodrigue
experienced and survived three times, first leading him to paint, then to the
Blue Dog, and now to some wondrous unknown.

“This is one of the more unique pieces I’ve ever done…”

…explained George to his doctor, a philosopher as much as
scientist, who near-cried along with us, as we discussed George’s astonishing
test results.Originally from
Vietnam, the doctor shared his thoughts on karma and kindness, as they studied
George’s artwork Together Again
(above, from Bodies), a blue nude completed in 2005.

“I turned the figure blue and overlaid it with the Blue Dog,
creating something else altogether.”

During this blue and beautiful fall, I’m sentimental and
hopeful and I turn, as I have for years, to Aretha Sings the Blues and “This
Bitter Earth” from 1964.

Wendy

*Sacré Bleu, 2012 by Christopher Moore, William Morrow
Publishing; a perfect and much-appreciated gift from Kathrerine Marquette, San
Antonio, of the McKnay Museum, the first modern art museum in the state of Texas, and my favorite haunt while a student at Trinity University-

-Please join me
October 10, 2012 in Destin, Florida, for a luncheon and lecture:“Musings of an Artist’s Wife,” benefitting the Mattie Kelly
Arts Foundation and the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts; details here-

4 comments:

Cerulean, cobalt, ultramarine...every rich blue. Here's the truth. George OWNS blue, probably forever, definitely everywhere. This isn't K&B purple. This is a piece of the rainbow, seen from space. (May I have black?)

"Karma, Kindness and the Kolor Blue" - I will be writing a poem in my head inspired by your posting all day today, Wendy.

I am sitting in my yellow kitchen, starring at my ugly white and scared pantry door. Because of George, I now know what I want to do with it. Artists inspire other lesser "wanna be but suck at it, yet think we are" artists to get off their butts and create. Usually I create food, because being a NOLA native, I know how food feeds the creative soul. Today that door will be painted in chalk board paint and when I get bold, maybe a poor girl imitation of Blue Dog in a white outline?? They have these amazing chalkboard markers in tons of colors and my favorite is blue cause blue goes with yellow in a kitchen REALlY well. Time to put on Leann Rimes song "Blue" and other songs with "Blue" in it and get busy. To some people, Blue is depressing, but to me, Blue is anything but. Blue is happy and blue can be icy like a good NOLA snoball on a hot day.

"Karma, Kindness and the Kolor Blue" sounds like a title for another book. I cannot wait for your book. Houston/NOLA love from Coonass Lee

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About Me

I was born on a military base and raised in Fort Walton Beach, FL.
Attended Trinity University in San Antonio, TX, majoring in Art History and English, followed by European Art and Architecture in Vienna, Austria, and graduate school at Tulane University in New Orleans.
Worked for the Rodrigue Gallery in New Orleans and later Carmel, CA, beginning in 1991, and married George Rodrigue in 1997.
I've written guest columns for publications including Gambit, Country Roads Magazine, and Louisiana Cultural Vistas. As of 2017 I live between New Orleans, Louisiana and Santa Fe, New Mexico. I work extensively on George Rodrigue exhibitions and publishing projects, and lecture widely on his art.
I remain involved full-time within Rodrigue gallery operations and the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts, with an ongoing focus on preserving and enhancing Rodrigue's artistic and philanthropic legacy.
My first solo book, "The Other Side of the Painting" (UL Press), was published October 2013.